Rome’s Christmas Season 2013

Somehow, Rome’s Christmas season is upon us! It also means that we have been in Rome now for almost 4 months! Just last week it felt like the beginning of December yet when I looked at the calendar, I freaked out because I realized that it’s more like mid-December and the time has almost come to catch a plane to Miami to spend a few days with our families for Christmas. As much as I love Italy and the Christmas lights and the spirit in the air I am MORE than ready to enjoy Miami’s beautiful 80 degree weather and to see our family.

To get into the holiday spirit here on the blog, here are some pictures of what the Christmas season looks like in Rome!

This fountain by Bernini in Piazza Barberini was only recently unveiled after going through a deep cleaning. This fountain is a little special for us because when we first got to Rome, we would pass the boarded up fountain on an almost daily basis because our (first) hotel was nearby (read The Tale of Finding an Apartment in Rome to find out how many hotels we stayed in before moving in to our apartment) . I don’t know how long it took to clean, but at the very least it was like 3 months. The result was spectacular. The fountain was pristine and whiter than any other building or fountain I’ve seen in Rome so far. Behind it, you can see the Bernini hotel has hung up some Christmas lights as well.

Close to the Trevi Fountain, another area we thoroughly explored the first month in Rome, is this little shop filled with wooden Pinocchio’s of all shapes and sizes, with and without strings . We had never noticed the shop before, but I thought it was absolutely adorable even if it is super touristy.

Speaking of the Trevi Fountain, we were ecstatic to find that the huge stifling crowds of August and September were completely diminished in winter! We got to walk around without having to push our way through and take pictures from any angle without having to deal with people’s heads getting in the way.

Via del Corso had rainbow lights as far as the eye can see.

Piazza Navona is home to Rome’s most famous Christmas market. I have to be honest, I was disappointed. Before this year, I really had no idea about these famous Christmas markets all over Europe, but now that I’ve done extensive research on them, I am obsessed. So when I found out Rome had it’s own Christmas market, I couldn’t wait for it to open so I could check it out. Sadly, there was only about three stands with cute Christmas decorations and gifts worth buying. Everything else was filled with tacky and cheap children’s toys of the kind that I remember dreading as a child. But at least it makes for pretty pictures and now I just have to experience one of the famed German or Austrian Christmas markets. Next year for sure!

One of the cute stalls at the Piazza Navona Christmas Market.

Finally, out of pure luck we got to take one of my favorite pictures that we (ahem, Jaime) have taken recently. I love it so much because it was by coincidence that we got such an Italian picture. Jaime wanted to take a picture of the Via Veneto lights, so we walked to one end where there is a cobblestone sidewalk that allows you to get a good shot from the middle of the street as opposed to the sides. There, parked illegally on the zebra stripes of course, was the cutest little Fiat just begging to be photographed. So we obliged :).

For more pictures of the Christmas lights around Rome, as well as pictures not on the blog from New York and the Vatican, check out My Napoleon Complex’s Facebook page. In case you don’t hear from me again before Christmas (which in all honesty is probably going to be the case) Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Jaime, Arya, and I!